


LGBTQIA(vengers)

by lanestreets



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, M/M, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 13:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15730266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanestreets/pseuds/lanestreets
Summary: Steve Rogers comes out on a Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday morning, it's hit every major news outlet. Twitter has some opinions, and Pepper Potts is taking no prisoners.





	LGBTQIA(vengers)

**Author's Note:**

> there are a few 'tweets' in this that are rude and homophobic because this is Steve beginning to deal with the backlash from some bigots after coming out publicly, so watch out. donut trump is mentioned also.

Captain Steven Grant Rogers comes out to the public on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in May sitting in a quiet cafe in Manhattan, talking to a reporter from the New York Times. The woman wears a bright yellow blouse and a flared black skirt and she smiles when Steve looks at his hands and softly admits, for only the second time in his life, that he is bisexual, that he always has been and always will be no matter who he ends up falling in love with. His heart thumps in his throat for a second, two, three, and then he looks up and the journalist and he smiles wide and he laughs, a genuine, sunny laugh to match the sunny day, and he takes her hand and thanks her for giving him the voice he didn’t know he was allowed to have. She smiles, and squeezes his hand back, and says it’s her pleasure. 

By Wednesday morning, the story has hit ever major news outlet across the planet,  _ Captain America Comes Out! _ spread across front pages everywhere. 

Steve feels something he doesn’t really have a word for. 

He just knows he’s really, really happy. 

And then he checks Twitter.

That, in hindsight, was a bad idea.

There are a number of tweets with the hashtag #StandWithCap, which Steve thinks is incredibly sweet, until he sees the need for that hashtag, because wow, #AntiCap and #BoycottCap are trending number two and three, directly beneath it. There’s a sinking feeling in his chest, when he clicks on it, because he expected some people to have loud and rude opinions, but this is crazy. 

And then he reads the first tweet in the tag. 

@theRealDonaldTrump

We need to make America great again because this reason! Outdated science experiments are not the same as good American citizens even if they look like they! They should be careful what they say!

Steve doesn’t even know how to react to that. He’s still sitting, staring at his phone when Pepper comes to find him. 

“Oh, Steve, I was just looking for--what’s wrong?” she asks as she steps into the room, her heels clacking on the floor until they meet the soft carpet under the couch that Steve had been trying to sit on. He’d missed, and wound up on the floor, and hadn’t moved. He doesn’t move to get up now, nor does he answer. He simply raises his phone for Pepper to read. “Oh honey,” she says, and suddenly the heels are off and she’s folding herself up next to Steve and resting her head on his shoulder and looping an arm around his waist. 

Steve speaks softly, his voice rough, and he realizes distantly that he’s been sitting here for almost three hours. “I’m not-- I mean, I’m more than just-- How could he say something like that?”

He knows that the president, to put it lightly, is an ignorant, bigoted, moronic asshole, but he still couldn’t have prepared himself for just how hurtful it would be to read something like that. None of the responses were particularly good either. Sure there were people standing up for him, which made something warm settle in his chest, but the number of people so ready to make him out to be nothing more than a science experiment, something less than human, less deserving of respect and dignity…

There are not tears in his eyes. There aren’t. 

He still buries his face into the crook of Pepper’s neck, just to be sure. He doesn’t want her to have to see him like that.  

He’s not sure how long he sits like that, but Pepper doesn’t complain once, just lets him have as long a moment as he needs. 

When he finally pulls away, she keeps her hand at the small of his back. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be a bother to you,” he says quietly, and Pepper uses her free hand to swat his shoulder. He jumps in surprise, and gives him a look before resting her head on his shoulder again. 

“Steven Grant Rogers, you are not bothering me. You are my friend and this?” she takes his phone, and waves it in front of them both. “This is horrible of someone to do to you. You’re allowed to be upset about it.  You’re a person, with thought and feelings and this cheeto-dusted shit-gibbon trying to reduce you to a science experiment is despicable.”

Steve takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.  “Thanks Pepper,” he says, because he doesn’t know what else to say. 

He scrubs a hand over his face and scratches the back of his neck and tries to hide that his hands are shaking, from fear or anger or raw, searing pain, he’s not sure.

Pepper sees it though, and takes his hand and holds it tight. 

“You know, you’re not alone, Steve,” she says softly, looking up at him with so much unfiltered affection that Steve thinks he actually might cry. He likes this side of Pepper.

“I know. Everyone was really supportive when I told the team I was going to do this. I really appreciate it.”

Pepper smiles and shifts, resting her chin on his shoulder instead, so that she can look up at him. The whole thing is strangely intimate. He can’t say he doesn’t like it. 

“That’s not what I meant, Steven,” she says and Steve raises an eyebrow. “She said we could wait until I wanted to say something to tell people, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. Steve, sweetheart, Natasha and I have been dating for almost four months now.” When Steve’s other eyebrow creeps towards his hairline, Pepper laughs. “What, did you think you were the only queer in this Tower?” she asks, a smile pulling at her lips, as Steve pulls her into a hug. 

He knows, obviously, that he’s not the only queer person on the planet, but to hear someone else say that, to have it reaffirmed that he really isn’t alone in this, is reassuring in a way he can’t even begin to verbalize. He tries to show his feeling to Pepper in the strength of his hug and the gentleness of the hand he runs through her hair, the kiss he presses to her forehead as she draws back. 

Steve lets out a quiet laugh, just this side of hysterical, and Pepper wraps one perfectly manicured hand around his wrist and they just sit for a moment. 

“You’re not alone, Steve. And it’s not just Natasha and the team and I.” She picks up Steve’s phone again and holds it up so his face will unlock it, and taps into the Twitter app. Ignoring the #AntiCap and #BoycottCap tags, she clicks on #StandWithCap, and begins to scroll.

The first few tweets are nothing noteworthy, just the hashtag and nothing more. A few celebrities have tweeted in his favor, he notices Tony’s name among them, with some harsh language and not a single lowercase letter. And then Pepper tilts the screen away from him, and scrolls until she finds what she’s looking for. 

“From an @amylee: #StandWithCap, Cap, I’ve been there, I went through the bullshit when I came out. You’re not alone and the entire community supports you. Anyone who doesn’t can kiss my apple taters.,” Pepper reads from the phone. Steve smiles, and rubs at the back of his neck. “@ajcray says ‘Captain America is honestly an icon. Overcoming the ideals of a different time and accepting and loving yourself like that? Goals.’ @shayshouldgoaway says ‘Your fav could never. #StandWithCap Fuck Trump and his shitty homophobic self.’ @zavage says ‘Nothing but respect for  _ my _ Captain.’” Pepper snorts and reads, “And @bottompride says, ‘Can’t believe Cap is one of us. Suck it straights.’ I know it might be hard to see right now, but you did something really, really good here Steve.”

Pepper scrolls through his Twitter feed a little longer, reading the notable ones to him and laughing to herself as she goes. She’s still curled into his side on the floor when Natasha finds them. 

“Trying to steal my girlfriend, are you Rogers?” Nat teases, and Steve flushes red up to the tips of his ears. Natasha comes and sits on the couch behind them, one ankle hooked over Steve’s shoulder, her fingers carding through Pepper’s hair, and Steve feels lighter than he has all day.

~*~

Steve’s not sure when he fell asleep, but he wakes up late, to his phone absolutely blowing up. He fumbles for it blindly in the half light of mid-morning filtering in through the shaded windows, squinting against the light of the screen when he switches it on. 

The little red number on the corner of his Twitter app is ticking up higher and higher by the second, he has almost seven hundred new emails and approximately six million text messages, which is an exaggeration, but still. Steve, intimidated by the number of emails and Twitter notifications, goes for the texts first, and is surprised to find a few numbers he doesn’t recognize. He scrolls past them until he hits one he knows, Pepper’s contact, messages from Tony, Nat, Sam and, well, most of the team actually. He clicks into Pepper’s message first. 

**[From: Pepper Potts 8:49 A.M.]**

_ Don’t look at Twitter when you wake up.  _

_ That sounds ominous, I’m sorry, but I would sincerely advise against it. _

**[From: Pepper Potts 8:51 A.M.]**

_ I released a statement this morning stating that the team and I stand behind you, and it got more attention than I was expecting.  _

_ Someone released all of your contact information on Twitter, and some people are saying some truly repulsive things.  _

He sighs and goes for the other messages, with very low expectations. 

**[From: Tony Stark 8:36 A.M.]**

_ I cannot believe you got doxxed, Spangles.  _

_ Do you know how hard people had to work to break through my security to get even this little bit of information? _

_ Steve. _

_ Do you understnad. _

_ DO YOU UDNERSNTAD. _

_ MY security is the best there is. _

_ Besdies Shuri’s.  _

**[From: Tony Stark 8:41 A.M.]**

_ And YOu got someone mad enough to break through all of that to dox yuo. _

_ Anyway, we need to change your email address, get you a new phone number and maybe also change all the passwords on your accounts.  _

_ JARVIS is screening all incoming attempts to contact you, so he’s caught the bulk of it, but I’m sure some stuff slipped through. _

**[From: Tony Stark 9:00 A.M.]**

_ I’m really sorry that people are doing this to you Steve. You’re a good man, and you don’t deserve this, especially not over coming out. _

**[From: Sam Wilson 8:27 A.M.]**

_ If you need anything, say the word.  _

**[From: Sam Wilson 9:02 A.M]**

_ Are you still asleep or should I be concerned?  _

_ I mean I’m still concerned cause you never sleep this late, but should I be seriously, seriously concerned? _

**[From: Sam Wilson 9:36 A.M.]**

_ Steve, let me know you’re alright when you see this, okay? _

**[From: Clint Barton 9:14 A.M.]**

_ Nat’s got addresses of the doxxers i am willing and able to put arrows in eyes  _

_ Or other places _

_ Or just bricks through windows _

_ Or arrows through windows _

_ Or both _

_ Whatever u need steve, i know i’m bad at all this, but seriously, i’ll be there if you want _

Steve skims through the rest of the messages, and lets Tony know that he’ll see him about changing his contact information later, and he lets Sam know that he’s okay, and lets Clint know that he does not want arrows in anyone’s eyes, but that he wants plausible deniability so he’s just going to pretend he didn’t see anything about bricks.

And then he considers Pepper’s first message, and ignores it in favor of looking at what the hell is going on. 

As it turns out, he probably should have avoided Twitter like Pepper said. 

He sees the notification for the post that must have started all of this, a tweet that reads “ _ @CaptainRogers is a fucking disgrace to his uniform. pulling this stunt to try to convince good american youths that being a fuckin queer is okay. disgusting. #BoycottCap #AntiCap” _

Under it is the rest of the thread, his phone number, personal and his extension at the Tower, his email, the floor of the tower he’s on, and messages encouraging people to do something with the information, to show him what the American public really thinks of him. Several users start calling him the f-slur with a ‘Captain’ affixed to the front of it as though they’re clever and it turns into a hashtag and it’s well on its way to trending. 

The thread is interspersed with a few people trying to stick up for him, but it mostly consists of people hurling homophobic slurs around like it’s going out of style, and even more people saying crude things about the nature of Steve and Pepper’s relationship, with a sprinkling of “if he’s sleeping with a woman how is he gay?” for good measure. 

Front and center to all of it are tweets, from the Commander in Chief himself.

Steve feels sick.

He grips his phone so tightly that the screen cracks. 

“Fuck,” he sighs, tossing the phone onto the bed. “Hey JARVIS?” he says softly to the room, and overhead, the AI hums to life. 

“How can I help you Captain Rogers?” 

“Can you tell me what the statement Pepper released this morning said?” he asks, shyly, as though he isn’t talking to an artificial intelligence that is pretty much incapable of judging him.

There’s a pause and then, “Ms. Potts’ statement, released in time to hit all of the major news outlets this morning, read: ‘A few days ago, my dear friend Steven Rogers came out publicly. This is a big step for him, and I know he has appreciated the support that many of you have shown him. It is incredibly kind of you. However, we cannot help but notice that there has been some hatred directed at Captain Rogers as well, some of it even directed towards Stark Industries and official Avengers channels. Stark Industries, the Avengers would like to take this opportunity to go on record and say that we will not tolerate this sort of behavior. It is unprofessional, and absolutely unacceptable. Additionally, I would like to take this opportunity to go on the record and say that I do not appreciate this hatred being spewed towards my friend, and I will not respond to any unkind messages on any form of social media. Thank you.’”

JARVIS falls silent and Steve takes a moment to think he doesn’t deserve Pepper. She’s too good. And then he thinks ‘fuck’ and looks to the ceiling, even though he knows by now that that’s unnecessary. 

“JARVIS, can you send a text to Bucky?”

“What would you like me to send to Sergeant Barnes, Captain Rogers?”

“Hey, Buck, I don’t know if you’ve seen what’s up, but I’m so sorry. I know you were okay with me coming out like this and even with me gearing up to tell the team about us, but I didn’t know people would bring Pepper into it like this, or take things so far. I’m really sorry. I’ll text you when I’ve got a new phone number and everything. Give Shuri, T’Challa and the others my best. I love you.”

“Will that be all, Captain?” JARVIS asks and Steve wraps his arms around his stomach, and nods, and then remembers he’s talking to a robot.

“Yes, that’ll be it, JARVIS. Let me know if Buck responds, or if the Princess does for him, I forget what he’s meant to be up to today,” he says, as though the AI is going to actually do something with the excess information. He still feels weird not offering it up though. 

He gets up then, placing his ruined phone on the nightstand at his bedside and heading for his closet. He’s only halfway through getting ready when JARVIS interrupts him. 

“Captain, Sergeant Barnes has responded, would you like to hear his message?” JARVIS asks, proper as always.

Steve nods, and tugs a shirt over his head. “Yeah, please.”

“Sergeant Barnes says he will be out of contact for most of the day if you attempt to reach him, but not to worry, he is with Princess Shuri. He also says to let you know that he will not tolerate you apologizing for things out of your control, that he wants you to take your time in telling your teammates about your relationship, to extend his apologies to Pepper as well, and to make sure you are caring for yourself. He finished his message with ‘You’re a stupid brave man, Stevie. I love every inch of you. None of this is your fault. I can’t wait to see you again.’ That is the end of the message. Would you like me to send a reply?”

Steve presses the heels of his hands into his eyes. He’s not getting teary eyed over a message from his boyfriend. He is not. 

“No, JARVIS,” he croaks out. “But could you tell me where Pepper is?”

“Ms. Potts is in the common kitchen on the first residential floor. Would you like me to inform her you are looking for her?”

“No, that’s alright, thanks JARVIS,” Steve says, stuffing his feet into shoes and grabbing the ruined phone to give to Tony later. The trip to the kitchen on the first of the common floors is too short; he still has no idea what to really say to Pepper, how to apologize for all of this. 

As he approaches, she very sternly says into her phone, “I don’t care what they said to you, I don’t want them there, if I even so much as hear the word FOX I’m going to lose my mind, am I understood? Good,” and then hangs up, and looks to him. “Oh, Steve, just the man I was looking for.”

Steve winces and then blurts out, “I looked at Twitter. And then I broke my phone.”

Pepper sighs, “Steve--”

“Pepper, I’m so sorry you got dragged into all of this like that. It’s completely unfair to you and--”

Pepper cuts him off with a noise and a pointed finger. “No! Steve, you do not apologize. There is not a single thing that has happened this week that has been your fault. What you did was incredible. Do you know how many lives you’ve impacted, in a really, really good way, in the past few days? You’ve given people all over the planet someone to look up to. It puts sort of an unfair spotlight on you, I know, but you did something good. As for me? I’m a grown ass woman. I made the choice to make that statement, knowing what could happen. Some people are pigs. That’s how it is. Do not ever apologize for the actions of others. They should be held accountable, not you.” She reaches up and cups his cheek with a hand. Her skin is smooth and smells like the lavender lotion she keeps stashed around the Tower. Steve almost smiles. “I’ve got some things to take care of. Make sure you take care of yourself. And stay off the internet for a bit, okay?”

And then she’s gone. 

Steve smiles as she goes. 

~*~

Tony fixes his phone, hooks him up with a new phone number and changes his email and all of his passwords and then abandons him in the common area when he gets a phone call. Steve worries about being alone--it’s a really bad day for that-- for all of two seconds, before Nat glides into the room and pushes him onto the couch, before flopping down next to him to use him like a pillow. 

“Pep says we should watch the news,” she says, by way of greeting. 

Steve, because it is Natasha, accepts it and moves on, focusing on the TV instead. 

It’s tuned in to some news channel that’s currently airing a gossip show, with a live feed…

That’s the Tower.

Steve has a moment of panic before Nat grabs his knee and squeezes, just short of painful. He relaxes, though he’s not any less on alert, thinking the worst, even though the gathering of reporters he can see on screen is rather small. But then Pepper’s face fills the screen, her picture perfect media smile out in full force as she glares down the cameras and speaks. 

“It’s come to my attention that since my earlier statement regarding Captain Rogers, there have been some rumors started about the nature of our relationship, and I thought it best to address them all before they got out of hand.” She smiles into the camera, no longer picture perfect, rather predatory and  _ dangerous _ . Steve would be terrified of her if that look were directed at him. “Captain Rogers and I are nothing more than friends, and my girlfriend does not appreciate the insinuation those rumors make about me. Now as for the announcement promised, I am thrilled to announce that the Maria Stark Foundation will be starting work on a shelter for LGBTQ youths to provide a safe haven--” 

Steve tunes the rest of the announcement out, still trying to process what has just happened. Nat pokes his side, and looks up at him from where her head rests in his lap, giving him the softest smile she’s ever seen on her face. 

“Didn’t think we’d leave you out there on your own, did you, Cap?” she says, squeezing his forearm.

Steve smiles, and wonders how he could have ever expected anything less from either of them, and thinks that he’s incredibly grateful for his family. 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @ [hohhawkeye!](http://hohhawkeye.tumblr.com/)  
> credit for the phrase "cheeto-dusted shit-gibbon" [the lovely zav!](http://ririwills.tumblr.com/)


End file.
